Chapter 9: A Sudden Transformation

"Performing the Small Heavenly Circuit, chanting spells and making finger seals, this poor Daoist is a little immortal from Longhu Mountain who has attained the Dao..."

A clear and melodious voice drifted over, its air of carefree abandon causing passing city patrol soldiers to slow their steps and glance sideways.

This little Daoist was handsome; men who saw him felt ashamed of their own ugliness, while women couldn't help but look a few times more.

The tune was truly pleasant, yet the lyrics, once heard, were indeed somewhat arrogant.

One must know that Cui Xian has a true immortal, residing in the Green Lotus Daoist Temple on Little Swallow Mountain. Rumor has it a Sword Immortal descended there, capable of wielding a flying sword to snatch a person's head from a thousand li away.

Where did this little Daoist get the gall to boast so shamelessly and call himself an immortal?

Yet the young Daoist singing seemed to hear none of the surroundings, his eyes still lightly closed, immersed in his own song.

Behind the young Daoist stood a white banner, upon which two lines of large, prominent characters were written: "Divination to ask gods and ghosts, believe it exists. Praying for peace and safety, sincerity makes it work."

The crowd finally realized he was a fortune teller; no wonder he was bragging so, likely to attract business.

The soldiers riding past saw this scene and initially intended to step forward and intervene, but just as they approached, the leader, Old Yu, pulled them back.

Old Yu frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Do not meddle in idle matters."

The soldiers under him, full of doubt, asked, "Boss, why ignore it? This is the main official road; according to the rules, setting up stalls is not allowed here."

Old Yu stroked his half-white beard and said softly, "Just look at that white banner."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers all furrowed their brows and examined it carefully; after a moment, one stammered, "The characters, well, they are indeed somewhat ugly."

Hearing this, Old Yu raised his hand and slapped the forehead of this subordinate who lacked insight, saying in a resentful tone, "Who asked you how the characters look? I told you to see where that white banner is planted!"

After this shout, the soldiers finally realized that the pole of the white banner was driven straight and deeply into the blue stone slabs.

Old Yu's expression was grave as he said in a deep voice, "Stay alert. The county magistrate's conscription of young boys and girls has spread, and martial heroes from the Jianghu have gathered in the city. We are merely patrolling; arresting and punishing criminals is the duty of the government office constables. Remember, children, women, the elderly, and religious people—these are the ones you must not provoke at will; just report the facts."

In these days, Cui Xian had become increasingly mixed with good and bad elements; the county government office's forced seizure of young boys and girls had aroused indignation in the Jianghu, and self-styled great heroes had flocked to "act righteously for the public good." In the past half month, several cases of murder had already occurred in the town.

Old Yu had been in this trade for most of his life and naturally knew the principle of prudence for self-preservation; he immediately spurred his horse's flank and left first. Seeing this, the soldiers under him hurriedly followed in a rush, thinking that following an experienced boss like Old Yu was good; see, they had safely picked up another life.

Hearing the horse hooves grow fainter and more hurried, the young Daoist's song stopped abruptly, and he sighed helplessly, "Another business run away; in this age, does no one want to ask for divination?"

This person was naturally Chen Ye.

He had arrived in Cui Xian two days ago and had more or less figured out the situation.

Cui Xian was larger than usual, far beyond the scale a normal county should have. This was because Cui Xian was the fiefdom of a very favored imperial relative of the current Emperor.

That was a princess of noble status, titled Hongyu. It was said that when she was born, her small hand tightly grasped a red gemstone, and in an instant, a seven-colored rainbow light enveloped the entire imperial palace. The Emperor was overjoyed, viewing this as an auspicious omen, and from then on doted on this princess immensely.

This Princess Hongyu seemed to possess something miraculous; since her birth, the world had enjoyed favorable weather for over ten consecutive years, and every time it was her birthday, the sky was filled with colorful clouds. The Emperor became even more convinced she was a god-sent divine person, and his affection grew even deeper.

Thus, this prosperous and flourishing Cui Xian had long ago become the princess's fiefdom.

With the connection of this princess, Cui Xian could have wind when it wanted wind and rain when it wanted rain in the imperial court; in just over ten years, it had developed into its current scale.

Even though Princess Hongyu still lived deep within the imperial palace and had never set foot in her own fiefdom, her palace in Cui Xian was the most magnificent and luxurious place, with countless rare treasures flowing into it like water every year.

Precisely because of this, although the magistrate of Cui Xian was nominally a county magistrate, his status was far higher than officials of the same rank. No wonder that magistrate dared to forcibly conscript young boys and girls, completely unafraid of triggering a popular uprising; he acted with impunity, able to use the princess's guards to suppress any trouble, and those guards were far more formidable than the government office constables.

Chen Ye himself was not very familiar with these mundane matters; cultivators have long lifespans, while human dynasties change frequently. Long ones last two or three hundred years, short ones only a few decades; the central plains plus many small border states were truly difficult to remember one by one.

Mo Ci's age was even much greater than the current dynasty; if Chen Ye's cultivation went smoothly, he would likely experience several dynastic changes himself, so naturally he would not take it to heart.

But since he was going to Cui Xian now, he naturally had to find out the situation clearly. Fortunately, Zhao Hezhou was a local of Cui Xian, and before Chen Ye set out, he had asked about many matters, memorizing the high officials and nobles of Cui Xian in his mind, so he wouldn't be completely in the dark.

And to enter the city smoothly, he had changed his identity; no longer a disheveled little beggar, but a handsome young Daoist.

If there was anything worth boasting about from his past life, it was definitely this face.

Before crossing over, whether friends or family, all said he could make a living off his looks. But Chen Ye was proud and arrogant; not understanding that another name for forbearance is wealth, he plunged headlong into the business of studying and internal competition, wasting his youth in vain.

Now that he had become a cultivator, this face was even less needed.

After all, the Heavenly Dao does not care about beauty or ugliness; it treats everyone equally.

Having entered the city for two days, Chen Ye had carefully investigated; the magistrate was still conscripting young boys and girls, and the numbers were getting larger and larger.

This made Chen Ye extremely puzzled; clearly, the cultivators from Qinghe Sword Sect had arrived a few days ago, so why did they still sit idly by and ignore such evil acts?

Could it be that he misunderstood, and that collecting young boys and girls was truly done by the cultivators of Qinghe Sword Sect?

Although puzzled, Chen Ye did not intend to meddle in idle matters.

A small cultivator at the Spirit Awakening Realm could not manage such a great calamity harming the people; it was better to focus on cultivation.

Now that the side effects of the Beast Blood Pill problem had been solved, as long as he bought enough livestock, he could focus on alchemy and cultivation. Chen Ye had calculated that at least eight thousand sheep were needed for him to form the Dantian Qi Sea; if using cattle or horses, which had larger bodies, the requirement could drop to two or three thousand.

But cattle and horses were much more expensive than sheep; Chen Ye did not have the ability to shake his sleeve and sweep up the universe. For thousands of livestock, just slaughtering them would exhaust a person to death, and the time required would be long.

After thinking it over, Chen Ye wanted to get hold of a ranch; then he could order servants to help with slaughtering and bloodletting, saving him much effort in refining pills.

And this required money, and a large amount of money.

The silver left by Mo Ci was far from enough; Chen Ye could only think of ways to earn some money.

Anyway, working for others was impossible; ordinary common people working for a lifetime couldn't even buy half a cow.

It was just that he had been setting up the stall for half a day, yet not a single person had come to ask for divination.

"This doesn't make sense; the people of Cui Xian are in a state of panic, and chaos is already showing; how could no one want to have their fortune told?"

Chen Ye stroked his chin, unable to figure it out.

By noon, when the sun was most scorching, finally a portly man came before Chen Ye.

This Fatty asked in a deep voice, "Fortune teller, is your divination accurate?"

Chen Ye looked at this person and asked, "Mr., what do you wish to ask?"

The Fatty retorted, "If you can divine accurately, do you still need to ask me?"

This voice was loud and high, causing passersby on the road to turn and look toward Chen Ye.